Too Close For Comfort: Alternate Ending
by 47alwayswriting
Summary: Alternative ending to Too Close for Comfort. Based on the song by McFly. Castle gives Beckett a ride home. Set early season 1. One-shot. You can read this separately from the original story.


**So this is the alternate ending to Too Close for Comfort.**

**I initially wrote it this way, but it wasn't the way I wanted the story to end. (Personally I like this one better than the original one, but it doesn't go with the song... That's why I uploaded the other one first)**

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><p><em>I never meant the things I said<em>

_To make you cry_

_Can I say I'm sorry_

"Goodnight, Castle," Beckett said with a small smile. He liked the smile on her. Now she had gotten used to him and he didn't annoy her as much as he used to, or so he hoped, he got to see more of it.

"Until tomorrow, Detective," he replied, then turned around and headed for the elevator to take him down to the parking garage.

Once in his car he slowly pulled out of his spot and drove out of the garage and into the rush hour traffic. He scanned the sidewalk out of habit and suddenly spotted a familiar figure. He pulled over next to her and called out.

"Detective! Where's your car?"

Beckett jumped and did a cute little twirl to see who was talking to her, so Castle got halfway out of the car to drag her attention to him.

"Castle, what are you still doing here?" she sounded annoyed, though Castle didn't understand why.

"Why? I just got out of the garage."

"Montgomery told you not to park there, it's police cars only!" Why did she get so worked up about him parking in the precinct garage instead of out on the street?

"Well, I couldn't find a spot outside today, so I didn't think it would hurt anyone to park inside," he explained. "But you still haven't answered my question."

"My car is still getting fixed," she sighed and Castle's eyebrows shot up. They had been in an accident last week. Well, not them, her car. They'd been inside an office building interviewing a suspect when a drunk driver decided that it might be fun to run into her car. They'd had to get another car every time they had to go somewhere, but today had been a boring day doing paperwork, so he hadn't really thought about the car.

"Still? Beckett, it's been a week, why aren't they done yet?"

"I don't know… apparently they're still waiting for a part or something," she told him.

"How are you getting home now?"

"Well, I took my bike all week, but it was kind of slippery this morning so I took the subway," she said. Castle pulled up his nose at the thought of taking the subway, but decided to save her mentioning a motorcycle for another time.

"Get in, I'll give you a ride," he offered.

"No, thanks, Castle," Beckett tried to decline.

"Come on! You'll be home faster, the company is better and my car smells better than the subway," he pleaded his case, hoping to change her mind. He wouldn't mind spending a bit more time with her.

"You're right on two of those, Castle," she said before she grinned up at him and got in the car.

"What? You think the subway smells better than my car?" he sounded horrified, but couldn't keep his grin from his face. He was happy that she decided to get in.

"Company is better in the subway, you get a lot more people to choose from and if you don't like them, you can always choose to be squashed up against a window and enjoy the darkness outside."

"Why do they give subways windows?" Castle pondered.

"Hmm, I say you ask the subway," she sighed.

"Well, hello, subway. How are you doing today, why do you have windows if you never see daylight?" Castle asked in a childish voice.

"Seriously, Castle?" Beckett sounded annoyed, but when he looked at her from the corner of his eyes he could see a hint of a smile.

"So where do you live?" he asked nonchalantly.

"3rd street," she replied and he managed to not to react giddy for learning her address.

"Right."

They drove in silence for a while. Stuck in a traffic jam, though, he couldn't contain himself any longer.

"Ah, I hate this! Next time I'm leaving either earlier or later," he whined. She didn't answer him and kept staring out the window. He glanced her way and tried not to stare. She looked beautiful in profile, her hair stuck out every way and seemed almost purple in the light.

"You ignoring me?" he asked, but still got no reaction. It was like she hadn't heard him.

"Beckett?" he tried.

No answer.

"Detective?"

Nothing.

"Kate?"

This time she swirled her head around and met his eyes.

"What?" She sounded confused.

"You totally zoned out there for a second," Castle frowned. "What's going on?"

"Nothing," she said and turned her head again.

"Come on… There's something bothering you, I can tell," he pushed.

"Castle, I'm fine," she said, her voice constricted.

"Not really," he countered. She looked at him again and he saw a flash of something in her eyes before she hid it. Sadness. Tears. Grief. He realized again just how broken she was. "You hide it well, but those who look, can see it. At least I do."

"Well, then you're the first one to look," she mumbled softly.

This response caught Castle off-guard. He hadn't expected her to open up. He'd expected her to ignore him or at least deflect him. For the first time she didn't and he was surprised. It took him a minute to find the words.

"Tell me," he said, it was the only thing he could think of to say that didn't sound too weird or just plain stupid. He could have said that he was sure he was the only one to look, because he knew that Ryan and Esposito saw it too, but he didn't think that that would work. So he kept it simple. He found that sometimes simplicity was the best way.

"Castle…" she said, trailing off. He waited for her to continue, but when she didn't, he pondered whether he should push her or not. His mind said he needed to know, but his heart said to leave her alone, leave her be. His heart told him that she'd tell him when she was ready. His mind wondered if she would ever be ready. So because choosing his heart over his mind hadn't ever really worked out for him in the past, he chose to go with his mind.

"You can trust me," he said softly, this way he still left her some choice. She looked up at him, not trying to hide the eyes that were brimming with tears.

"Really? Or do you just want a backstory for your new character?" she snapped. He felt his chest clench together with the pain that her remark caused. It surprised him. He didn't think that a jab could hurt so much after knowing someone for just a couple of months.

"No, I would never-" he tried, but she cut him off by holding a finger up. He could see a tear streaming down her face, pulled over in front of her building and killed the engine.

"I know, Castle. And I'm sorry. I just don't really trust people," she told him. He didn't think this was the moment for the response that came to mind, so he kept quiet.

"You, ah, you saw my watch right?" she asked him and he nodded. "It was my Dad's. He gave it to me after he got out of rehab, as a thanks for saving his life." She looked up at Castle and he saw that more tears had leaked out, he watched her as she struggled to find the right words.

"Ten years ago," she started, "my mom was found dead in an alley. I can still remember the night so vividly that the cops knocked on our door and told us what had happened." She swallowed, but still continued. "My dad took her death hard and started drinking. He clean now, gave me his watch." She gave him a sad smile and reached under her shirt to pull out a chain with an engagement ring on it. "So this is for the life that I lost," she said, tapping the ring before she let it fall back to her chest and touched the watch, "and this is for the life that I saved."

Castle was stunned to silence. He was shocked by her story. He had known that her life hadn't been a picnic and that something terrible had happened to her, but he never expected this.

As he watched her he saw more tears forming in her eyes and suddenly he couldn't watch. Not because he was ashamed of her, he would never be ashamed of someone crying. But because he needed to see her smile again, to see her somewhat happy. He wanted to make her forget all her misery that had happened to her. So he used some comic relief.

"You know, I kind of liked the cop by day, hooker by night thing," he told her and he saw the confusion in her eyes. "For a backstory," he added, with a little smile, letting her know he was joking. "But I guess the heavy, emotional angle could work, too."

That was when a tiny smile broke on her face and he felt such a relief. It was then and there that he decided that he wanted to make her smile every day. He wanted to see her smile every day. Because she was the most remarkable, maddening, challenging, frustration person he'd ever met. And he might be falling in love with her. Hard.

_Was I invading in on your secrets_

_Was I too close for comfort_

_You're pushing me out_

_When I wanted in_

_What was I just about to discover_

_When I got too close for comfort_

_Driving you home_

_Guess I'll never know_

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><p><strong>Thoughts?<strong>


End file.
